1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stringed, musical instruments classified as chordophonic instruments such as violins and guitars, and more particularly to the construction of sounding bodies for such instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The different types of chordophonic stringed instruments which are available are distinguished mainly by the construction of their bodies and the manner in which sounding boxes and boards are incorporated into the bodies to reinforce the tone of the strings by sympathetic vibrations. Also the quality of the tone of an instrument is determined by the construction of the body and to exemplify this, one merely has to compare the tones of violins, mandolins, guitars, bass viols and lutes.
It is currently accepted that as a sounding box or enclosure within the body of a stringed instrument becomes larger, the resonance becomes increased and conversely, as the volume of the sounding box becomes less, the resonance diminishes accordingly with concommitantly decreasing tonal quality.
Typically, the sounding box within the hollow body of an instrument is covered on the front face by a thin plate which desirably provides a substantially unencumbered decorative cover with sounding holes.
In recent years, amateur and professional instrument makers have been experimenting with different types of bodies for chordophonic stringed instruments with various objectives in view. Often the body design is changed to enhance the appearance of the instrument or to produce distinctive tonal characteristics but these changes are necessarily limited for one always has to recognize, i.e. design around, presence of the sounding box. When body designs are such that the sounding box is totaly eliminated, as in solid body guitars, the deficiency in the amplification of the string vibrations is, of necessity, overcome by the use of pick-up devices which transfer the vibration signals to an electronic amplification-speaker system which, of course, is a significant added expense.
It is, of course, apparent that even a flat fretted stick with strings stretched thereon can be considered a musical instrument. However, the tones produced by the strings will be barely audible. Such a stick-like instrument has heretofore found utility only as a practice instrument where it is desired to subdue the tones produced. Sound amplification in some manner is essential to provide a true musical instrument and, as mentioned above, in conventional instruments, a sounding box within a hollow body is provided, often with one or more sections of the body defining the box itself.
When large volume sounding boxes are utilized in order to achieve desired tone characteristics, the body of the instrument must also be large to accommodate the sounding box. A prime example of this is a musical instrument commonly referred to as a "bass". Technically such an instrument should be termed a "bass viol", since it is the largest member of the viola da gamba family of musical instruments.
To avoid excessive weight--for the material of construction is usually wood--and for other accoustically related reasons, the shell of the instrument body is often quite thin and fragile. Therefore, great care must always be taken to protect the instrument from impact or environmentally-related damage; such as rain-induced warpage.
The intricate processes involved in the often quite complex construction of the hollow-bodied shell structures of stringed musical instruments, of course, contribute considerably to the high cost of such instruments.